A model that has changed in ten years
Anyone looking for accommodation in Dénia today is much more likely to sleep in an apartment or chalet than in a hotel. The city has around 25,000 beds in apartments, chalets, bungalows and tourist homes, compared with just over 2,400 hotel beds. Nearly nine in ten tourist beds are already outside traditional hotels.
It was not always like this. In 2016, the supply was broad but more balanced: just over 2,400 beds across hotels, hostels, guesthouses and youth hostels, 13,296 in tourist apartments and another 1,566 in campsites. According to an analysis of data from the Generalitat's Tourism Register published this month, between 2016 and 2022 Dénia added around 11,200 registered beds, and almost all that growth occurred in apartments and tourist homes.
The result is a tourist model very different from a decade ago. Visitors arriving in Dénia are spread across residential developments, apartment buildings and chalets on the coast and around Montgó, and increasingly less so in hotel establishments.
Hotels stagnant
While tourist accommodation grew, hotel supply barely moved. Dénia had 19 hotels with 2,018 beds in 2016. In 2022 there were 18, with 1,988 beds. In six years, the city lost one hotel and thirty beds, whilst the overall registered tourist supply grew by more than 11,000.
The most recent municipal information refers to just over 2,400 hotel beds, suggesting some recovery in recent years. Even so, this improvement is insufficient to alter the weight of each model: for every hotel bed, the city now offers around ten in homes and apartments.
Over 5,000 licensed homes
The Valencian Community Tourism Register lists 5,129 tourist homes with licences in Dénia, according to data downloaded in August 2026. The figure has continued to grow in the past year: in September 2025, the regional register recorded 4,863. A CCOO report published at the beginning of this year estimated that the actual number of tourist homes in the city could reach 6,808, when adding those operating without registration.
However, not all licensed homes are advertised. The INE experimental statistic, which tracks adverts on Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo, detected 2,926 active tourist homes in the municipality in May, 820 fewer than a year earlier, a 21.9 % decrease.
The difference between the two figures, of over 2,200 homes, corresponds to licences listed in the register but not marketed on those platforms. They may be inactive, advertised through other channels or, simply, not deregistered despite not operating. This is relevant data when measuring the real impact of tourist homes on the residential market, because a licence does not always equal a flat occupied by tourists.
The urban centre ordinance
The growth of tourist homes led the Town Council to act. In summer 2024 it suspended the granting of urban compatibility certificates for new tourist homes in the urban centre. This suspension provided time to prepare its own regulation, which the PSPV and Compromís governing team presented in June 2026.
The ordinance was drawn up based on analysis of INE census data, the municipal register and Valencian Community tourism statistics, with the aim of identifying neighbourhoods with the highest concentration of tourist homes and greatest resident population.
The initial proposal, presented by the Territorial Planning councillor, Maria Josep Ripoll, divided the urban centre into three zones. In residential neighbourhoods and much of the historic cores, such as Les Roques or the fishermen's quarter, tourist homes would disappear from 2029, when licences began to expire. The regulation also covered the urban centre of Jesús Pobre, considered a residential zone.
The objective was to reduce the number of tourist homes in the centre from 639 to 344, roughly half. Ripoll then argued that nearly 300 homes would move to rental and provide housing for those needing it.
A more flexible final version
The final ordinance, approved in August, is not the same as presented in June. During the 30 days of public consultation, seven representations were submitted, five from individuals and two from tourism sector associations. After studying them, the Urban Planning technicians introduced three substantial changes to the text.
The first affects the most protected zone, that of residential neighbourhoods, where new registrations were initially prohibited. Now some tourist home presence will be permitted, although, according to Ripoll, very sparingly, at a maximum of 1 %.
The second extends the compatibility zone to other historic centre enclaves, such as carrer de Loreto and Les Roques, and to Baix la Mar, on carrer de Sant Pere.
The third is the most far-reaching in terms of number of homes. In the strip between Camí del Llavador and the beach, where many tourist homes are concentrated and very few residential ones, the permitted percentage of new licences rises from the 15 % initially planned to 25 %.
The ordinance was approved by votes in favour from Compromís and PSPV, abstention from the PP and votes against from Gent de Dénia and Vox. The plenary was called urgently and extraordinarily so the regulation would be approved before the suspension of licences in the urban centre ended.
Most of the supply, outside the regulation
The ordinance only affects the urban centre, which concentrates a smaller part of the supply. Of the around 5,000 tourist homes in the municipality, most are located in Les Rotes, Les Marines and Montgó. These are second homes and residential developments that fall outside the regulation and where there will be no limits.
That is, the regulation acts on neighbourhoods where tourist homes compete most directly with permanent residence, but leaves the model untouched in areas where most of the beds are concentrated.
A debate extending beyond Dénia
Dénia's regulation is part of a regional debate on housing access. CCOO has proposed for Marina Alta, among other measures, a total moratorium on new tourist homes and rental caps based on household income. In neighbouring Xàbia, the Town Council has applied a moratorium approved in 2024 and has announced it will lift it to fix maximum percentages by zones, a model similar to Dénia's.
The national framework has also changed this year. In May, the Supreme Court annulled the national register of short-term rentals, which had been in force since July 2025, when ruling on an appeal from the Valencian Community Generalitat. The ruling returns control of this type of accommodation to the autonomous communities and strengthens the role of town councils in regulating where and how many tourist homes can operate.
